Health officials have defended a pause in the launch of the Biden administration’s COVID-19 impeller due to insufficient data, people familiar with the matter he told the New York Times.
At a meeting with White House officials, including White House pandemic coordinator Jeffery Zients last week, acting Food and Drug Administration Commissioner (FDA) Janet Woodcock, along with Rochelle P. Walensky, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), these recommendations for booster shots may not be complete according to White House timeline.
Agencies told the White House that they could only recommend booster vaccines for some people and that they would still have to determine whether they would recommend vaccines for all vaccines.
President Biden
Joe Biden Spotlight addresses GOP McCarthy on January 6th. Biden’s investigation visits the union hall to commemorate Labor Day. announced in August that the government aimed to recommend booster shots for those who received the vaccine more than eight months ago on September 20th.
Health officials are still debating reinforcement traits to determine when a person may need them. In addition, poorer countries ask richer countries to give vaccine doses before starting booster vaccines.
A White House spokesman told the Times last week that the administration is awaiting FDA approval and CDC recommendations before releasing booster shots.
“We always said we would follow science, and all of that is part of a process that is now underway,” spokesman Chris Meagher said.
“When this approval and recommendation is made, we will be prepared to implement the plan that the best doctors in our nation have developed so that we are ahead of this virus,” Meagher added.
According to the Times, people who met the meeting between Zients and health officials said it is unclear how Zients responded to the agencies’ comments.
Other countries such as Israel have already begun to give reinforcements to their citizens. The European Union has decided not to give reinforcements, saying it wants to focus on giving people the first blows.
To date, the United States has only offered additional shots to immunocompromised individuals who did not form the high amount of antibodies needed from the first two doses.
The Hill has contacted the White House, the FDA and CDC for comment.